Moots Psychlo-X RSL: Final Build Notes and First Impressions
A while back I introduced my new TBD x Moots Psychlo-X RSL finished in root beer brown (not to be mistaken for Clark’s golden Psychlo-X). Unfortunately schedule conflicts and a nagging hip injury have kept me from getting the bike to the races as I had to cancel a planned debut at Noho CX. That said my personal use case for this bike was always focused more on singletrack riding than CX racing and with some progress on PT I have started getting the bike out on the trails. There are a few equipment choices that I might switch around (more on that below) but my first impressions of the bike and the build are nothing but positive.
I think the underlying driver of that positive impression is the frame material - especially as a larger rider, titanium provides a confidence in frame strength and stability that I never fully had with the carbon bikes that I spent the past few years riding. But beyond that, the bike just absolutely rips on trails. And as a former Shimano-devotee the current generation SRAM AXS product, including this EagleTap Force build, has me increasingly convinced that SRAM is industry leading in many respects. But I’ll save complete thoughts on the major build components for another Journal entry. In the meantime here are a few notes on the finishing touches for the build including what is working well thus far and what might get swapped out.
Moots Psychlo-X RSL: The Final Build
Of course, I didn’t head to the woods simply to take glamour shots of my bike. I was there to meet Alvaro, Austin, and Jonathan for a couple hours of trail riding. Cunningham Park in Queens may not be much by non-NYC standards, but on a day with temperatures barely clearing freezing and a windchill in the 20’s, it was a little slice of heaven for these four New Yorkers. And it was great seeing a broad array of cyclists out on the trails - we may have been the only folks on CX bikes, but we saw everything from young kids riding with their parents, to BMXers getting big air, and perhaps most off the wall — a unicycle. All-in-all a pretty great way to escape the cold.
A New York City based cyclist and sometimes photographer. Part adventure rider, part crit racer, and fully obsessed with an English bulldog named Winifred.
Instagram: @photorhetoric
E-mail: matthew@tobedetermined.cc
A new bike day has arrived for Scott!